Constructive criticism is a good thing,
said Jack Evans, executive director of Carolina North.

In fact, generating such criticism from the community is the
central purpose of the monthly forums that will be held through June to review
possible design scenarios for the property. At each forum, citizens are asked
to fill out comment cards describing what they like or do not like about what
they see and hear.

At the second forum, held April 26 at the William and Ida
Friday Center for Continuing Education, Evans said that most of the 50 or so
comments received in response to the March 27 forum could be used to try to
improve plans, both for the University and the community at large.

Evans noted that many comments were consistent, while some
offered opposing viewpoints. The modified design scenarios presented at the
April 26 meeting, he added, reflected the feedback from the March meeting

In subsequent meetings, additional feedback will help winnow
the number of scenarios from three to two by the end of May, then down to one
in June. The goal, Evans said, is for the final proposal to combine the most
desirable features of all three proposals now under consideration.

University planners are scheduled to present a proposal to
the Board of Trustees in September.

The revised scenarios factored in comments on topics such as
placement of bike paths
and possible locations for housing and research buildings.

The only unconstructive criticism, Evans said, came from
those who asked for no building whatsoever on the property. “That,
unfortunately for the people who have that approach, is just not one of the
options,” Evans said.

Like the first forum, the April meeting included three
breakout sessions that included information on the physical development of
Carolina North as well as some of the University programs that may be
relocated, expanded or created there.

The University’s Office of Technology Development, for
instance, hopes to make Carolina North the site of the Carolina Innovation
Center, which will provide a home for University researchers to launch new
businesses based on their research. The by-product will be start-up companies and jobs for North Carolina.

Similarly, leaders of the Frank Porter Graham Child
Development Center (FPG), now based in Carrboro but spread across several
locations, would like to be among the first tenants of Carolina North, said Sam
Odom, center director. The center is one of the oldest and largest
multidisciplinary centers in the country dedicated to the study of families and
children, yet the program has never had a physical presence on campus, Odom
said.

One program already discussed in connection with Carolina
North is FirstSchool, which will create a framework for early education for
children ages 3 to 8. Other FPG programs include PAS (Promote Academic Success)
that addresses the achievement gap for children of color and Project U-STARS ~
PLUS that helps nurture potential in children from economically disadvantaged
or culturally diverse families and in children with disabilities.

Ted Brown of Biohabitats Inc., which conducted an ecological
assessment of the property for the University, explained how plans were
developed to protect watersheds. Brown also discussed the ecological payoff of
keeping a vast swatch of forestland undisturbed.

Evans drew a distinction between how the land should be
developed and why the University must develop it.

The University wants to use sustainable practices to develop
the land, addressing how it will be developed. Carolina North may, in fact,
become a national model for sound sustainable practices.

But sustainability is the how, not the why, Evans said.

“Carolina North is about the University’s mission,” he said.
“The things that we are going to do out there derive their need from things the
University needs to do in education, research, public service outreach, and
ultimately, contribution to economic development. That’s why we need Carolina
North.”

Local residents, faculty, staff and students are invited to
participate in the next two community meetings about Carolina North, on May 29
and June 21. The meetings will begin at
3:30 p.m. at the School of Government and will be repeated at 5:30 p.m.

Boxill wins Mary Turner Lane Award for contributions to
women

Jan Boxill, senior lecturer and associate chair of the
Department of Philosophy and director of the Parr Center for Ethics, was
honored recently with the Mary Turner Lane Award.

2007 Mary Turner Lane Award recipient Jan Boxill (left),
senior lecturer and associate chair of the Department of Philosophy, poses with
Mary Turner Lane, whose work inspired the award, and presenter Meg Pomerantz,
lecturer in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science. Lane became the first
director of Women's Studies at UNC in 1976, and, although retired, remains
active in women's issues on campus.

Established in 1986, the award recognizes people who make
outstanding contributions to the lives of women students, faculty, staff and
administrators at Carolina.

Boxill specializes and teaches courses in ethics, social and
political philosophy and feminist theory. She is editor of “Sports Ethics”
(Blackwell 2003) and “Issues in Race and Gender” (2000), and has written
articles on ethics in sports, Title IX and affirmative action.

She is past president of the International Association for
Philosophy in Sport and is a member of the Carolina Speakers Bureau.

Meg Pomerantz, director of the Lifetime Fitness Program in
the Department of Exercise and Sport Science, nominated Boxill for the award in
recognition of her longtime advocacy for women and women’s issues.

“Many of the women who attended last spring’s AWFP luncheon
heard Jan tell the stories of her childhood and young adulthood and were
impressed by her perseverance to achieve the goals that she set for herself,”
Pomerantz said. “When she was an undergraduate student at UCLA, Jan recruited a
group of friends to start the women’s
basketball program there. That was
just the beginning of her history of helping herself and other women realize
that a little determination goes a long way.”

Originally from a small town in upstate New York, Boxill
received her B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from UCLA. She spent three
years in the Air Force in the Women’s Air Force Band. She has been at Carolina
since 1985 and has served as the public address announcer for women’s
basketball and field hockey, and now serves as the radio color analyst for
women’s basketball.

“For me personally, Jan has been an excellent role model and
has taught me a great deal without really intending to teach me,” Pomerantz
said. “Her dedication to her career and the issues that enter her life, as well
as her willingness to educate herself about
issues that are new to her, have been an inspiration to me. I appreciate Jan’s open mind and
willingness to explore several sides of a topic. These qualities have served her well as director of the Parr
Center for Ethics.”

Currently Boxill is working on a book, “Front Porch Ethics:
The Moral Significance of Sport.” She is a past recipient of the Tanner Award
for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and in 2006 Boxill received the first
faculty Women’s Advocacy Award.

University tests water for lead in some campus buildings

The Department of Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) is
investigating lead levels in the water of some new and recently renovated
University buildings.

EHS restricted drinking any water in four campus buildings
— Caudill Labs, Chapman Hall, Information Technology Services (ITS)
Manning and the Campus Y — based on elevated lead levels found in some water samples taken from the
buildings.

Carolina officials restricted the use of all water fountains
and sinks in break rooms and provided bottled water for everyone in the affected
buildings. They also posted signs in English and Spanish notifying building
users not to drink the water. Water to bathroom sinks was not turned off so
that employees could wash their hands, as state and local health officials
advised.

The problem with the water initially came to the
University’s attention because of complaints of a bad taste in the water in
Caudill Labs. Subsequent testing by the Orange Water and Sewer Authority showed
high hardness in Caudill Labs and Chapman Hall. In response, water use in these
buildings was restricted in March, and follow-up testing in April revealed the
presence of lead.

When testing of water samples in ITS Manning and the Campus
Y also showed
elevated levels of lead, EHS restricted water use in those buildings as well.
Testing of the FedEx Global Education Center has not shown elevated lead levels
in the drinking water.

On April 27, EHS Interim Director Raymond Hackney sent a
campuswide e-mail to all faculty, staff and students explaining that water use
in the four buildings had been restricted. “It’s important to know that we are
erring on the side of safety,” Hackney wrote. The situation was also reported
in the
April 25 issue of the Gazette.

Based on the findings to date, EHS has focused its
investigation on newer campus buildings or those that were renovated recently.
The University has hired Marc Edwards, Charles Lunsford professor of civil and
environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, to help guide its investigation.

With advice from Edwards, the University has developed a
three-part strategy to define the scope of the problem, correct the problem in
all affected buildings and prevent the problem in any additional buildings.

To ensure that the University has identified all buildings
that might have elevated lead levels, EHS is conducting tests in
representative buildings that have been constructed or renovated within the
last two years. Officials are in the process of sampling new construction or
renovation that was completed at six-month intervals, from the newest
construction six months ago to that completed 24 months ago. If these
additional buildings show elevated levels, all buildings constructed in a
similar time frame will be tested.

Buildings being tested include Energy
Services, Burnett Womack, Bondurant Hall, Information Technology Services (ITS)
Franklin, Environment Health and Safety (now located off Estes Drive
Extension), Rams Head Recreation Center, Michael Hooker Research Center and
Saunders Hall. Building occupants were notified when that sampling began last
week.

In buildings that have shown elevated lead levels, EHS will
flush the water lines and take samples from a few fixtures. When those results
are clean — that is, lead levels are no longer elevated — EHS will
test all the fixtures in the building. However, if the water is not clean after
a few cycles of flushing and testing, the University will begin replacing the
plumbing fixtures with fixtures that contain no more than 0.2 percent lead.

The current standard for a fixture labeled “lead-free” in
most states, including North Carolina, allows up to 8 percent lead.
Fixtures with a maximum 0.2 percent lead are the lowest available and should
ensure that the problem does not resurface,
officials said.

For all future construction and new construction in which
plumbing has not yet been installed, the University is changing the
specifications to call for fixtures that contain no more than 0.2 percent lead.

Public health officials with whom the University has
consulted believe that the lead levels found to date, on average, do not raise
a concern for adults who have been drinking the water, particularly given the
short time of exposure. They do not recommend testing at this time for most
adults.

As a precaution, however, the University offers testing free
of charge to expectant mothers and those who are breastfeeding, who drank
significant amounts of water in Caudill Labs, Chapman Hall, ITS Manning or the
Campus Y. Employees who are
pregnant or nursing may schedule an appointment for testing with the
University’s Employee Occupational Health Clinic by calling 966-9119. Students
who are
pregnant or nursing may schedule an appointment with Campus Health Services by
calling 966-6573.

As of May 2, 11 people had been tested
on campus. None of them showed elevated lead levels.

Neither the employee clinic or student services is equipped
to draw blood on young children, so the Orange County Health Department is
providing free blood testing to children under the age of 6 who drank water
from the water supply in any of the four identified buildings. As of May 2, the
department reported that no children had come in for testing.

Questions about the University’s ongoing investigation can be directed to EHS at 962-5507. Information about the
effects of lead in water is available on the EPA’s web site at
www.epa.gov/safewater/lead/index.html.

Chancellor, five professors elected to national academies

Chancellor James Moeser and five faculty members have been
elected to national academies in honor of their academic contributions.

In addition to the chancellor, new fellows elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences are James Jorgenson, W.R. Kenan Jr. professor of chemistry;
Michael Taylor, W.R. Kenan
professor of mathematics; Carlton Cuyler Hunt, professor emeritus of
physiology; and Terry Magnuson, Sarah Graham Kenan professor, chair of genetics
and director of the Carolina Center for Genome Sciences.

They are among the 203 new fellows and 24 new foreign
honorary members elected to the academy. They join a distinguished list of new
fellows that includes former Vice President Al Gore, former Supreme Court
Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, New York Mayor and businessman Michael
Bloomberg and filmmaker Spike Lee.

Jeff Dangl, John N. Couch professor of biology, microbiology
and immunology and associate director of the Carolina Center for Genome
Sciences, is one of 72 new members and 18 foreign associates elected into the
National Academy of Sciences.

UNC now has a total of 35 faculty members in the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences and 12 in the National Academy of Science.

Moeser

Moeser, who has served as UNC’s chancellor since 2000, leads
an effort to strengthen the University’s service to the people and communities
of North Carolina. He has championed a nationally recognized
commitment to making a UNC education possible debt-free for deserving
low-income students. Known as the Carolina Covenant, this initiative was a
first for a major U.S. public university and is the first in a series of
initiatives aimed at enhancing access and affordability to a Carolina
education.

As the University’s ninth chancellor,
Moeser has overseen an unprecedented physical transformation of the main
campus, the most successful private fund-raising campaign in University
history, growth in faculty research, development of an academic plan and
significant enhancements to undergraduate education.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation appointed Moeser to the
National Security Higher Education Advisory Board in 2005. He also serves on
the College Board’s National Commission on Writing and two Association of
American University committees studying the cost of research and
internationalization.

Jorgenson

Jorgenson, an analytical chemist, received the American
Chemical Society’s highest award for outstanding contributions to his field.
Analytical chemistry focuses on measuring the chemical composition of material
of all types with greater precision, sensitivity and speed.

A former department chair, Jorgenson pioneered the chemical
separation technique, capillary electrophoresis, in the 1980s. Capillary gel
electrophoresis was the breakthrough technology that allowed the human genome
to be sequenced years ahead of schedule.

The former associate editor of Analytical Chemistry,
Jorgenson is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science.

Taylor

Taylor, a UNC faculty member since 1987, specializes in
partial differential equations, which are used to solve problems that involve
unknown functions of several variables such as the propagation of sound or
heat, electrodynamics, fluid flow or elasticity.

He is a member of the American Mathematical Society and the
Mathematical
Association of America and serves on the editorial boards of Communications in
Partial Differential Equations and Mathematical Research Letters. Taylor’s
recently published work includes “Measure Theory and Integration” and “Tools
for PDE,” both for the American Mathematical Society, and an article on wave
equations and diffraction for the “Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics.”

Hunt joined the UNC faculty in 1995 as a visiting professor
after a long and distinguished career at several other institutions.

He led in the discovery and description of a system of
neurons controlling the sensitivity and activity of the muscle stretch receptor
(the vertebrate muscle spindle), which was a first indication that the central
nervous system can control the activity that it receives from peripheral sense
organs. Hunt’s subsequent work on vibration reception by the Pacinian corpuscle
and on the correlation between afferent fiber conduction velocity and afferent
function are important landmarks in the development of insight into somatic
sensory mechanisms.

Hunt chaired the physiology departments at Yale University
and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. After
retiring from Washington University, he joined the physiology department at UNC
as a visiting professor and actively continued his previous investigations of
the workings of sense organs associated with somatic sensation. He now lives in
western North Carolina.

Magnuson

Magnuson was recruited to Carolina in 2000 as founding chair
of the Department of Genetics and director of the newly established Carolina
Center for Genome Sciences. He also helped create the Cancer Genetics Program
in the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

A founding member of the International Mammalian Genome
Society, Magnuson served on the external advisory committee for the Mouse
Genome Database at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. He served on
the board of directors of the Society for Developmental Biology and is
currently a director of the Genetics Society of America. He was appointed by
the National Academy of Sciences to help establish guidelines for work with
human embryonic stem cells.

The work in the Magnuson lab focuses on the role of certain
mammalian genes in unique epigenetic phenomena such as genomic imprinting and
X-chromosome inactivation. The lab also studies the tumor suppressor role of
mammalian gene complexes and has developed a novel genome-wide mutagenesis
strategy.

Dangl

Dangl, a UNC faculty member since 1995, specializes in plant
genetics and cellular biology, plant disease resistance and controlling cell
death. His work centers around the genetic study of plant-pathogen interactions
— discovering how to make plants more resistant to disease — using
a small plant with a white flower, Arabidopsis thaliana, commonly called thale
cress or mouse-ear cress, as a model.

His lab group was among the first to isolate a plant
disease-resistance gene, to show that the pathogen molecule that activates this
resistance gene was a virulence factor and to isolate a series of mutants that
mis-regulated the hypersensitive cell death associated with plant disease
resistance responses. This work has had very important and broad applications
in understanding and creating new strategies for deploying disease resistant
plants into agricultural settings.

Dangl was elected to the German National Academy of Sciences
(Die Leopoldina) in 2003 and as a fellow of American Association for the
Advancement of Science in 2004.

The Academy of Arts and Sciences, founded in 1780 by John
Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots, has elected some
of the most influential leaders from each generation, including George
Washington and Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and
Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill.

The National Academy of Sciences was established by Congress
in 1863 as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any
matter of science or technology. Candidates for membership can only be formally
nominated by academy members and are selected based on their original research.

Center for Public Service announces 2007 award winners

Reaching out to North Carolina’s Latin American community,
addressing Native American health inequities and reducing the spread of
HIV/AIDS are only a few of the ways University students, faculty, staff and
organizations help address community needs.

The Carolina Center for Public Service recognized these and
other initiatives with awards for exemplary scholarship and service benefiting
North Carolina. Four individuals and two Carolina units were honored at the
center’s annual awards program on April 27.

Individuals and organizations across campus were nominated
for the awards, and three committees made up of students, faculty, staff and
community representatives selected the recipients.

“The nomination and selection process, as always,
highlighted the breadth and depth of how Carolina reaches throughout the state
to make a difference,” said Lynn Blanchard, director of the center. “The
recipients of this year’s Ned Brooks, Robert Bryan and Office of the Provost
awards exemplify what is best about Carolina.”

Sharon Mújica
Sharon Mújica, who joined the Institute of Latin American
Studies in 1985, received the fifth annual Ned Brooks Award for Public Service.
Named for Brooks, a faculty member and administrator since 1972, the award
recognizes a faculty or staff member who has built a sustained record of
community service through individual efforts and promoted the involvement and
guidance of others.

For more than 20 years, Mújica has actively collaborated
with institute directors and staff in developing a series of programs that have
made the institute what it is today, particularly in the area of outreach to
the community and the public schools.

She was recognized for her many accomplishments, including
organizing the annual Latin American Film Festival; teaching N.C. K-12 and
post-secondary educators about Latin American and Caribbean culture, history
and language; working with local museums and community organizations to bring
Latin American art to Triangle communities; and working with local
organizations to raise money for impoverished Latin American countries. Mújica
also has been a pivotal figure in the UNC-Duke Latin American Studies
Consortium, serving as its outreach director since 1991.

Department of Psychiatry
The Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine and
the Native Health Initiative received Office of the Provost Engaged Scholarship
Awards. These awards honor units that demonstrate exemplary engaged scholarship
(the application of university expertise to address community needs) in service
to the state of North Carolina.

The psychiatry department was recognized for its Outreach
and Support Intervention Services (OASIS). OASIS is a specialized treatment
program that identifies and treats individuals in the early stages of a
psychotic illness, with the goal of increasing a sustained recovery. The
services provided include assessment, individual and group psychotherapy,
community support and family support and education.

Native Health Initiative
The Native Health Initiative (NHI) was honored for
addressing the health inequities faced by American Indians in North Carolina by
using the unique resources within this population to address health concerns.
The initiative was created in 2004 as a partnership between health professions
students and North Carolina’s American Indian communities. In two years of
work, the initiative has involved five North Carolina tribes and recorded more
than 10,000 volunteer hours by health-professions students and tribal members.

Students Janet López and Nicole Norfleet and faculty member
Giselle Corbie-Smith received the Robert E. Bryan Public Service Award, which
recognizes individual students, staff and faculty for exemplary public service
efforts.

Janet López
López, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in Culture,
Curriculum and Change in the School of Education from Pueblo, Colo., was
honored for her contributions as director of the Scholars Latino Initiative (SLI).
This partnership between UNC and Jordan Matthews High School in Siler City
promotes equity and access to the North Carolina educational system by pairing
Carolina sophomores with Latino sophomores at Jordan Matthews for a three-year
mentoring relationship.

Nicole Norfleet
Norfleet, a sophomore from Voorhees, N.J., started “Suits
for Success” when she arrived at Carolina last year. The program gives at-risk
high school students in Durham the opportunity to ask University students
questions about attending college and to receive new business suits donated by
local businesses.

Giselle Corbie-Smith
Corbie-Smith, an associate professor in the School of
Medicine, is the principal investigator for Project GRACE, a collaborative
partnership working to eliminate health disparities in communities in Edgecombe
and Nash counties. Using a community-based participatory research model,
Corbie-Smith works with community groups and individuals, seeking
interventions that will be acceptable to the community and effective in
reducing the incidence and spread of HIV/AIDS.

The Carolina Center for Public Service engages and supports
the faculty, students and staff of the University in meeting the needs of North
Carolina. The center strengthens the University’s public service commitment by
promoting scholarship and service that are responsive to the concerns of the
state and contribute to the common good.

W. Lowry and Susan S. Caudill Laboratories

The ribbon is cut April 26 to dedicate the W. Lowry and
Susan S. Caudill Laboratories, a key component of the $205 million Carolina
Physical Science Complex whose ground was broken three years ago.

Those taking
part in the celebration are (left-right) Holden Thorp, chair of the Department
of Chemistry and incoming dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Chancellor
James Moeser, and W. Lowry and Susan S. Caudill, both Carolina graduates. Lowry
Caudill is chair of the complex steering committee.

The couple donated $3
million to the project as part of the Carolina First Campaign, in part to name
the Royce Murray Quadrangle, the largest of the green spaces planned for the
complex. Murray, Kenan professor of chemistry, was Lowry’s
mentor when he was a student here.

Take the ‘Mercury-Free at UNC’ pledge

The “Mercury-free at UNC” program is now available to
laboratories.

Darren Treml, safety officer with the Department of
Environment, Health and Safety (EHS), said the program seeks to reduce the
hazards of mercury exposure in campus labs by disposing of old thermometers and
replacing them for free during the 2007-08 school year.

Faculty and staff should e-mail completed forms to EHS. EHS
will review the form for completeness and merit and inform the applicant of the
outcome of the review.

By signing, dating and submitting the application form,
applicants will be pledging to reduce elemental mercury use in workspace under
their control, dispose of mercury waste properly and report spills promptly to
EHS.

Elemental mercury is a shiny, silver-gray metal that is a
liquid at room temperature. It can be found in thermometers, barometers,
sphygmomanometers, dental amalgams, batteries, fluorescent lights and
electrical switches.

Inhalation of elemental mercury vapor is the most common
route of exposure. When liquid mercury is spilled or allowed to come in contact
with air, it evaporates.

Treml said the long-term goal of the program is to eliminate
the use of elementary mercury at the University because mercury can affect the
central nervous system, resulting in tremors, memory loss, insomnia,
irritability and depression, among other things.

First director of American Indian Center named

Clara Sue Kidwell, director of Native American studies and
professor of history at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., has been
hired as the director of the American Indian Center. Kidwell, who was selected
after a nationwide search, will begin July 1.

Kidwell

“Under Dr. Kidwell’s leadership, our new American Indian
Center will enable Carolina’s faculty, students and staff to explore the rich
cultural and historical legacy of the state’s first people and will allow us to
better serve American Indian communities on campus, across the state and beyond,”
said Bernadette Gray-Little, executive vice chancellor and provost.

Kidwell, whose tribal affiliations are Choctaw and Chippewa,
was the assistant director for cultural resources at the National Museum of the
American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, for two years before joining the
faculty at the University of Oklahoma in 1995. She received her doctorate in
history of science from the University of Oklahoma in 1970.

“The prospect of creating a new center on the Chapel Hill
campus is very exciting, and I am looking forward to getting acquainted with
people there and in the Indian communities in the state,” said Kidwell, who
will retire from the University of Oklahoma at the end of this semester. “My
vision for the center is that it will become a strong resource to disseminate
information, to keep people informed about Indian-related events and research
on the campus and support the development of new initiatives. It can also
help to create a bridge between the intellectual and scholarly resources of the
University and the Indian communities in North Carolina.”

The American Indian Center at UNC, which will be housed in
Abernethy Hall, will be one of the only centers on the East Coast to focus
solely on American Indian issues and research. As director, Kidwell will
collaborate with faculty, students and staff to initiate new programs, continue
outreach to American Indian communities and raise funds for the center.

“Dr. Kidwell is an accomplished senior scholar in the field
of Native American studies and deeply experienced in the leadership of academic
programs related to American Indians,” said Harry Watson, chair of the search
committee and director of the Center for the Study of the American South at
Carolina. “Her forthcoming book, a history of the Choctaw Nation, is notable in
its intent to serve both as a scholarly work and a means to give members of
that nation a deeper understanding of their place in Oklahoma history.”

The objectives of the center, as outlined by the Provost’s
Committee on Native American Issues, include:

Establishing a leadership institute for North Carolina
tribal leaders, in collaboration with the School of Government;

Communicating regularly with American Indian tribal
leaders and communities;

Sponsoring and facilitating activities that give
visibility to and provide learning opportunities regarding American Indian
cultures, histories and perspectives; and

Promoting inclusion of native people and perspective in
campus dialogues.

“The breadth and depth of Dr. Kidwell’s experience will
allow her to develop the center into an organization that will greatly enrich
the intellectual life of the campus through its programming and outreach
efforts and that will serve as a bridge between campus and community,” said
Carol Tresolini, associate provost for academic initiatives at Carolina.

North Carolina is home to the largest American Indian population
east of the Mississippi River. In 2005, the U.S. Census estimated the state’s
total population at just less than 8.7 million, with 1.3 percent, or
approximately 113,100, listed as American Indians and Alaskan natives.

The UNC student body mirrors that percentage. In fall 2006,
American Indian students numbered 219, nearly 1 percent of total enrollment.
American Indian students and faculty at Carolina include members of the state’s
eight tribes as well as tribes from across the United States and Canada.

Forum passes resolution to move smokers 50 feet from
buildings

After extensive discussion at its May 2 meeting, Employee
Forum delegates passed a resolution that would require smokers to move 50 feet
away from buildings before lighting up.

Forum chair Ernie Patterson said the resolution mirrored
legislation that the North Carolina General Assembly was considering. The
forum’s resolution calls on Chancellor James Moeser and the University Board of
Trustees to set Jan. 1, 2008 as the effective date for the proposed policy to
go into effect.

Patterson said the tighter smoking restriction is aimed at
protecting non-smokers from second-hand smoke, but it could also serve to
encourage smokers to quit by making smoking less convenient.

The move to restrict smoking areas is part of a growing
trend, nationally and locally. In July, UNC Health Care, the School of
Medicine and the UNC Campus Health Services will ban smoking from hospital and
medical school grounds, inside and outside. In conjunction, smokers will be
able to participate in programs designed to help them quit (see story below).

The forum resolution cited the 2000 Surgeon General’s
Report, “The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke,”
which concluded that adults exposed to secondhand smoke are vulnerable to the
same health risks as smokers, including heart disease and lung cancer. The
report added, “There is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.”

To buttress these findings, the resolution included a 1999
report from the National Cancer Institute that attributed the early deaths of
up to 65,000 Americans to secondhand smoke.

Discussion led to the resolution being tweaked in places.
The suggestion to remove all outside ashtrays, for instance, was scrubbed after
Kitty Allen, who works in Grounds, warned about the littering problem that
would create. Too many smokers already throw their butts on the ground or
sidewalks, she said.

The phrase “smoke-free” was also scrapped because members
thought it was misleading. The resolution does not call for the total
prohibition of smoking on campus, but limiting it to outdoor areas 50 feet away
from buildings.

“If you say smoke-free, it has to be smoke-free,” advised
Matt Banks, the program assistant for the forum. “We have to mean what we say.”

Some delegates who are non-smokers questioned the concept of
forcing people to stop smoking. Said one woman, “I feel like we are
discriminating against smokers and it is going to be a bad light on the forum
if we continue to ride this and ride this until it is a dead horse.”

Intended or not, delegate Robert Agans argued, a 50-foot
restriction would discriminate against smokers.

Patterson said the resolution was not intended to be
punitive and recounted a
conversation he had with Keith Fogleman, Facilities Services employee and
smoker who recently completed his term on the forum.

When told of the proposed resolution, Patterson said that
Fogleman responded, “Gee, this is my chance to quit.”

One forum member from Facilities Services said he supported
the resolution. “Non-smokers have the right to free air,” he said. “I got the
habit but it is something I live with and deal with and it is my right.”

School of Medicine buildings and the Campus Health Services
will join UNC Health Care in going tobacco-free July 4.

This University policy will affect employees, students,
visitors and patients in School of Medicine and Campus Health Services
buildings and grounds, including parking areas. Smoking is already banned
inside these buildings.

Employees in other University departments who work within
the School of Medicine or Campus Health Service areas also will be affected.
Signs will be posted within the buildings and along the perimeter of the
restricted areas.

Meanwhile, the University is in the process of expanding
opportunities for employees who work in the affected areas to participate in
cessation programs. Not all the details have been finalized, but the goal is to
offer these programs at as low a cost as possible to employees.

Ray Hackney, interim director of the Department of
Environment, Health and Safety, said the ban is in response to the mounting
scientific evidence that exposure to second-hand smoke is a serious health risk
that should no longer be tolerated.

“The purpose of this ban is not to make the lives of smokers
more difficult,” Hackney said. “The purpose of the ban is to protect people
from the real dangers of being exposed to second-hand smoke. The purpose of the
cessation programs is to make it easier for smokers to quit. In this way, both
the ban and the cessation programs aim toward one common goal, which is
healthier conditions for everyone.”

One program that Human Resources has already made available
to all University employees is the American Cancer Society Freshstart Program.
Freshstart, which consists of four, one-hour classes scheduled over four weeks,
emphasizes that smoking cessation is a two-part process — stopping, then
remaining stopped. Because individuals differ as to which part is most
difficult for them, Freshstart helps smokers stop smoking as quickly as
possible and learn new techniques to quell their physical and psychological
need to smoke.

People interested in signing up for the classes should call
962-6008.

Starting in July, the Family Medicine Center will offer a
tobacco cessation clinic on Thursday mornings. A physician will provide the initial assessment, and
follow-up visits can be scheduled with a tobacco dependence specialist. For
appointments, call 966-0211. For information about the Nicotine Dependence
Program, contact Carol Ripley-Moffitt, program manager, at 843-1521.

Although Hackney wanted more information about the Employee
Forum’s resolution (see related story) to restrict smoking 50 feet away from
all buildings on campus, he said the intent seemed to be consistent with
University policy.

“This resolution needs further study, but it is clear that
the intent of the resolution is consistent with the policy change that will go
into effect in July for the hospital, the medical school and all other
health-related areas,” Hackney said.

Hackney also encouraged smokers interested in quitting to
take advantage of the array of available resources.

QUIT SMART “PLUS” is a comprehensive and individualized
program covered
by the State Health Plan and most insurance. It includes personalized hypnosis
offered by psychologists at The Lake House Associates in Chapel Hill. For
information, call
929-9663.

Internet resources include:

www.ehs.unc.edu (offers information and links to resources
for quitting all forms of tobacco);

1-800-QUIT-NOW (North Carolina tobacco use quit line,
offered in Spanish and English; materials can be sent to a person’s home);

1-800-LUNG-USA (a telephone smoking program guided by the
American Lung Association);

1-800-ACS-2345 (American Cancer Society’s 24-hour line);
and

1-866-66START (quit line for pregnant smokers).

Wireless video projection takes initial step

Projecting video presentations from your laptop in UNC
classrooms requires the manual connection of Internet, audio and video output
cables — until now. A new application piloted by the Classroom Hotline
group has introduced wireless video projection.

Although only one person can project at a time, a click of a
button can allow multiple consecutive users. By installing software on their
laptops, students and instructors alike can connect via their wireless network
connection and project their laptop images in the classroom without the use of
cables.

According to Sue Goodman, distinguished term professor of
mathematics, the proof-of-concept pilot has been a success.

“My seminar on fractal geometry is heavily dependent on
technology. Before using wireless projection, I was tied to the computer
station in the front of the classroom, creating a lecture-type atmosphere I’ve
worked so hard to avoid in the first-year seminars,” explained Goodman.

Wireless video projection allows students and instructors to
project from their laptops in the midst of the classroom.

“The students are much more at ease in their presentations
and they enjoy the control it gives them,” said Goodman.

“This is the first step,” said Jeremiah Joyner, manager of
applications and platforms for the Next Generation Educational Infrastructure
group. “More sophisticated products will be on the market shortly with enhanced
video streaming and audio quality. Next fall, we hope to add more classrooms
and instructors to the project and use a newer version of the application.”

CCI 2007-08 departmental orders
Some Carolina Computing Initiative (CCI) models for the
2007-08 school year are now available for departmental purchase. Departments
can order desktops, towers, T-Series ThinkPad and X-series Tablet models with
delivery as early as this month. Information about ThinkPad R models will be
available soon.

What you need to know,
when you need to know it
“Just-in-Time Tutorials” (JITT) are short, focused online
tutorials to answer, in a convenient and interactive way, specific questions
learners might have about using an application.

The tutorials offer information about various aspects of
day-to-day tasks common at Carolina. Current offerings include the Oracle
Calendar, including the in-tray, access rights, replying to meeting
invitations, navigation and attachments. With JITT, one can also learn web
authoring using Mozilla. Topics include getting started, text and paragraph
formatting, backgrounds and images, links, anchors and tables.

Each JITT takes only three to five minutes to complete and
has a text-only version available. The tutorials also include a brief quiz so
learners can check their understanding of the material. They also point to
other ITS resources for additional help.

To access the tutorials, visit learnit.unc.edu and select
Just-in-Time Tutorials from the right-hand menu.

For the Record
The Apr. 25 issue of the Gazette incorrectly listed Robyn
East’s title. She is deputy chief information officer for ITS.

Dow

Spring Fling:
Bee young, bee foolish, be happy ... be healthy

Daphne Dow, social research assistant with General
Administration, sports a beehive hairdo as she waits for the start of the
Spring Fling run/walk at Woollen Gym May 4. The light rain didn’t dampen the
annual event where participants are encouraged to dress in the spirit of the
season.